The business side of football – Scott Wells

Ugh. Read here from Bob McGinn. I think Scott Wells is important to this team. He is a reliable veteran who is healthy. And his age (31) doesn’t seem to be an issue considering he has gotten better each of the last 3 years as McGinn points out. He made the Pro Bowl last year. He is a good player and my hope is that the Packers can figure something out with him. I think he deserves a pretty high offer from the Packers – and I’m sure Aaron Rodgers is saying the same thing. Centers are important to teams, especially teams that get as involved in dissecting defenses at the line of scrimmage like the Packers do.

Another reason I’d like for Wells to get paid is that we should minimize the O-Line shuffling we do – especially at center. To the extent that we can control it, I think it should be a goal to return the same or a mostly similar starting O-Line next year.

The offensive line should return mostly the same next year with or without Wells, God willing. I don’t think Sitton or Lang are going anywhere, and unless the coaches decide to shift Bulaga to LT – which I think would be a mistake – Bulaga sits at RT and Newhouse probably gets first crack at LT. Dietrich-Smith gets penciled in at center, and you’ve got a first draft of a starting five.

I’d like Wells back, but I’m not desperate for his return. I think like other linemen in the past (e.g. Rivera), someone will overpay him and the Packers will move on.

That article makes me a little suspicious–there’s a noticeable lack of direct quotes from Wells or anyone in the Packers’ organization. Just a lot of tea-leaves-reading and speculative-sounding stuff like

Wells basically is telling the team, “Watch what happens.”

I’d like to see Wells come back too. He’s been one of the few consistent players on that o-line over the last 3 or 4 seasons.

Maybe we’re just too sensitive about losing Nick Barnett and Cullen Jenkins last year, and then watching the defense turn to junk?

2 years 15 million. 7.5 million each. I do not know what if any is guaranteed.

This is great news. 2 years is a great contract for both, allows the Packers not to get burnt if he never does live up to his potential, and Finley the chance to strike it huge if he does live up to it.

It’ll be tough in 2 years when we are in the same position, but at least its 2 years down the road.

The other question is Flynn and with the tag that is now available to be used on someone else. I think we should be able to tag and trade him, Flynn has shown he’s capable of playing at an NFL level and there are several occasions in the past where teams have given an arm and a leg for unproven quarterbacks.

A deal could possibly be worked out with Philbin in Miami, if of course he is interested in bringing Flynn to the Dolphins.

Regardless, we are only on the hook for the 14 million guaranteed tender Flynn would get from the tag if we can’t trade him. The moment we trade him, we are no longer under the hook, so I’m almost certain that a team would without hesitation give up a 5th round pick for his rights if we were left with no other choice.

But the possibility of a 1st or 2nd (2nd is more likely) in return has a real good chance of happening.

So far, the off season is off to a good start, but the situation with Wells was unexpected for me. Regardless if we are able to keep him or not, we definitely need somebody in at center that we can surely rely on, and that has become my biggest concern this offseason now, right next to a pass rusher opposite Clay.

They will not tag Flynn unless they already have a deal worked out with another team. The Packers are not going to risk paying a back-up QB $14 million. Flynn would also essentially have to agree to a trade and also a 2 or 3 yr deal with his new team for a lot less then the franchise tag. Few teams can afford a $14 million cap hit and no team is going to pay Flynn $14 million unless they think he is a franchise QB and then they won’t want him hitting FA after one year.

It seems that Wells wants top-5 starting C money and TT just isn’t going to pay that for him. I think this is similar to the College situation last year. TT has given Wells a figure and Wells thinks he can do better in FA.

I LOVE how the Finley deal is structured for the Packers. It basically pays Finley the franchise tag amount for 2012 and gives him a fairly big but not guaranteed pay increase for 2013. TT has essentially worked a one year deal with an option year. An option year he doesn’t have to take (with no cap consequences) if Finley gets injured, arrested, or doesn’t play up to the contract. I have no idea why Finley agreed to a deal like this. He could have signed a slightly lower franchise tag and been a FA after next season. This contract gives him no more guaranteed money then the franchise tag but keeps out of FA for another year.